EPIDEMIOLOGY PRACTICE EXAM TIPS QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS MARKED A+
✔✔Incidence measures are most useful in the planning of health services.
A) True
B) False - ✔✔B) False
✔✔CCL Container recently conducted a hypertension screening program with its
employees. Twenty-six staff member screened positive for the disease. This is an
example of:
A) Count
B) Rate
C) Ratio
D) Proportion - ✔✔A) Count
✔✔Point epidemics and clustering are examples of disease occurrence according to:
A) Place
B) Person
C) Time
D) Determinant - ✔✔C) Time
✔✔Immunizations are an example of passive prevention of disease.
A)True
B)False - ✔✔B)False
✔✔Descriptive epidemiology involves all of the following questions EXCEPT:
A) Who
B) What
C) Where
D) When
E) Why? - ✔✔E) Why?
✔✔Information from descriptive studies can be used to test hypotheses about cause
and effect relationships (or determinents of disease).
A) True
B) False - ✔✔B) False
✔✔The number of accidental deaths among females aged 15-19 years is separated by
race. There were 1,333 deaths between African-American females and white females in
the age group. Two-hundred and twenty-seven (227), or 17% of these deaths were
African Americans. This calculation of 17% is an example of:
A) Count
B) Rate
C) Ratio
, D) Proportion - ✔✔D) Proportion
✔✔How does descriptive epidemiology differ from analytic epidemiology?
A) Descriptive focuses on distribution of a disease in a population, while analytical
focuses on determinants of a disease
B) Descriptive focuses on determinants while analytical focuses on distribution of
disease.
C) Descriptive focuses on population while analytic focuses on diseases
D) Descriptive focuses on diseases while analytic focuses on populations - ✔✔A)
Descriptive focuses on distribution of a disease in a population, while analytical focuses
on determinants of a disease
✔✔A graph of three different age groups identifying a pattern of a disease over a period
of several years is an example of:
A) Common source epidemic
B) Point source epidemic
C) Secular trend
D) Cyclic fluctuation - ✔✔C) Secular trend
✔✔The Seven Countries Study, which examined the relationship between lifestyle, diet,
and coronary heart disease, is an example of which study design?
A) Ecologic
B) Case-control
C) Cross-sectional
D) Case report - ✔✔A) Ecologic
✔✔Su et al. examined the association between breast cancer incidence and viral
hepatitis among women in Taiwan. A total of 1958 patients with incident breast cancer
during the period 2000-2008 were identified and age-matched to 7832 subjects without
cancer. No significant association between breast cancer incidence and hepatitis C
virus or hepatitis B virus was found. What type of study design was this?
A) Case-control
B) Ecologic
C) None
D) Cross- sectional - ✔✔A) Case-control Study
✔✔What sources can be used to identify controls for a case-control study?
A) General population
B) Hospital/clinic patients
C) Friends and relatives
D) All of the above - ✔✔D) All of the above
✔✔A study in which children are randomly assigned to receive either a newly
formulated vaccine or the currently available vaccine, and are followed to monitor for
side effects and effectiveness of each vaccine, is an example of which type of study?
ANSWERS MARKED A+
✔✔Incidence measures are most useful in the planning of health services.
A) True
B) False - ✔✔B) False
✔✔CCL Container recently conducted a hypertension screening program with its
employees. Twenty-six staff member screened positive for the disease. This is an
example of:
A) Count
B) Rate
C) Ratio
D) Proportion - ✔✔A) Count
✔✔Point epidemics and clustering are examples of disease occurrence according to:
A) Place
B) Person
C) Time
D) Determinant - ✔✔C) Time
✔✔Immunizations are an example of passive prevention of disease.
A)True
B)False - ✔✔B)False
✔✔Descriptive epidemiology involves all of the following questions EXCEPT:
A) Who
B) What
C) Where
D) When
E) Why? - ✔✔E) Why?
✔✔Information from descriptive studies can be used to test hypotheses about cause
and effect relationships (or determinents of disease).
A) True
B) False - ✔✔B) False
✔✔The number of accidental deaths among females aged 15-19 years is separated by
race. There were 1,333 deaths between African-American females and white females in
the age group. Two-hundred and twenty-seven (227), or 17% of these deaths were
African Americans. This calculation of 17% is an example of:
A) Count
B) Rate
C) Ratio
, D) Proportion - ✔✔D) Proportion
✔✔How does descriptive epidemiology differ from analytic epidemiology?
A) Descriptive focuses on distribution of a disease in a population, while analytical
focuses on determinants of a disease
B) Descriptive focuses on determinants while analytical focuses on distribution of
disease.
C) Descriptive focuses on population while analytic focuses on diseases
D) Descriptive focuses on diseases while analytic focuses on populations - ✔✔A)
Descriptive focuses on distribution of a disease in a population, while analytical focuses
on determinants of a disease
✔✔A graph of three different age groups identifying a pattern of a disease over a period
of several years is an example of:
A) Common source epidemic
B) Point source epidemic
C) Secular trend
D) Cyclic fluctuation - ✔✔C) Secular trend
✔✔The Seven Countries Study, which examined the relationship between lifestyle, diet,
and coronary heart disease, is an example of which study design?
A) Ecologic
B) Case-control
C) Cross-sectional
D) Case report - ✔✔A) Ecologic
✔✔Su et al. examined the association between breast cancer incidence and viral
hepatitis among women in Taiwan. A total of 1958 patients with incident breast cancer
during the period 2000-2008 were identified and age-matched to 7832 subjects without
cancer. No significant association between breast cancer incidence and hepatitis C
virus or hepatitis B virus was found. What type of study design was this?
A) Case-control
B) Ecologic
C) None
D) Cross- sectional - ✔✔A) Case-control Study
✔✔What sources can be used to identify controls for a case-control study?
A) General population
B) Hospital/clinic patients
C) Friends and relatives
D) All of the above - ✔✔D) All of the above
✔✔A study in which children are randomly assigned to receive either a newly
formulated vaccine or the currently available vaccine, and are followed to monitor for
side effects and effectiveness of each vaccine, is an example of which type of study?
